Shoebox from Greece

This cardboard shoebox from Piraeus, Greece dates back to the mid 1960s. The top cover includes the address and telephone number of the store, who at the time manufactured and sold this shoe, the maker’s surname (Tsakalian), and the style of shoe (pasoumia). The side panel again includes the shoemaker’s surname and various inventory information about model, size, and type, as indicated by the handwriting. The box’s visual design draws on kitsch, mundane pop culture, and includes machine-like, repetitive text that traces the perimeter of the box. The design evokes the bold repetition used by Warhol, though perhaps regurgutated and decontextualized. This seemingly innocuous box carries information about the Armenian diaspora living in Piraeus, Greece’s Americanization, Turkish influence, consumerism, and women’s living conditions in a country in the midst of a military junta.

A great wave of Armenian migrants who, under the genocidal hand of the Ottomans, fled to Greece for refuge in the early 20th century. It can be assumed that Tsakalian, the maker and owner of this shoe store, is one of the many diasporic Armenians (“-kalian” is a typical Armenian suffix) who fled to the port city of Piraeus. More cultural history is revealed in the type of shoe this box contained, the pasoumia style. This word is etymologically Turkish and pejoratively refers to a “harem shoe.” This type of woman’s shoe is for indoor wear only. It is not a casual or comfortable slipper, but a slightly heeled, decorated mule-type shoe that a woman might wear with lingerie. The Rubenesque depiction of Marilyn Monroe illustrates the style of shoe and is a glimpse into Greece’s fascination with American cinema, the ideal of Anglo Saxon beauty, and the celebrity culture of the time. Greece’s traditional gender values are duly expressed through the social codes and impracticality of this shoe style. 

• Bowe, Tucker. 2015. “Sabah, the Turkish Slipper Revived.” Gear Patrol. 

https://www.gearpatrol.com/style/shoes-boots/a126549/revival-turkish-slipper-sabah/.

Emmanouil, Marina. “‘Modern’ Graphic Design in Greece after World War II.” Design Issues 30, no. 4 (2014): 33–51. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24266980.

Gorman, Anthony, and Sossie Kasbarian, eds. Diasporas of the Modern Middle East: Contextualising Community. Edinburgh University Press, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt16r0jc2.